Industrial design student Mian Wei has devised a wearable finger prosthetic that can be used on fingerprint readers, saying it is needed to prevent biometrics being stolen.

Wei wanted to create a way for people to use fingerprint readers without worrying about surveillance and identity theft, he told the Christian Science Monitor.

I think fingerprint theft might become a really big problem,” Mr. Wei said. “If you go to Starbucks and take out the trash, you get a hundred [cups] with fingerprints, and they all have names on them.”

“Contrary to the biological fingerprints you already have, it is fully replaceable and disposable,” he writes on his website. “You could have a new fingerprint everyday either as a replacement for the fingerprints that have been stolen, or simply a prevention for potential theft.”

The Identity pad is made from a conductive silicone-based material, containing fibers that form an impression that will be accepted as a fingerprint on any consumer-grade fingerprint sensor.

Wei told the newspaper only produced 70 fingerprint pads for display purposes, and he doesn’t have a price in mind yet.